Career Academy of The Palm Beaches is Named a Jacques Pépin Foundation Grant Awardee

The Jacques Pépin Foundation (JPF) proudly announces Career Academy of The Palm Beaches as one of their Winter 2026 Grant Awardees. One of 20 recipients this round, the Career Academy of the Palm Beaches Culinary Arts Program provides individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities with career-focused, research-based training for entry into the food service industry. Students in the program engage directly in meal prep for residents at local homeless shelters, providing both direct culinary experience and a strong sense of purpose and responsibility. They will use their grant to support virtual reality headsets and culinary training software for students to engage in immersive, hands-on learning in a controlled setting. In addition to the $10,000 grant, Career Academy of The Palm Beaches will receive JPF branded aprons for their students and a group membership to the Foundation.

Founded in 2016 by the Pépin family, the JPF strives to enrich lives and strengthen communities through the power of culinary education. The JPF empowers and inspires professional chefs, home cooks, and community kitchens nationwide by sharing Jacques' legacy of culinary education. In 2019, the JPF became a grant-making organization, and in the last seven years the Foundation has given just shy of $2M to 98 different non-profit, community-based, culinary arts training programs that offer life skills and culinary training to individuals with barriers to employment. The JPF mission and vision are rooted firmly in the belief that culinary skills training leads to increased self-confidence, better health, and employment and career opportunities.

In addition to the Career Academy of the Palm Beaches, Winter 2026 JPF Grants were awarded to East Lake Methodist Church (Birmingham, AL), Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona (Tucson, AZ), Homeward Bound of Marin Fresh Starts Culinary Academy (Novato, CA), Mychal’s Learning Place (Los Angeles), Sprouts Training Center (San Francisco), The Salvation Army Napa Culinary Training Academy (Napa, CA), Manna (Durango, CO), Havely (New Haven, CT), Food Bank of Delaware (Newark, DE), Feeding Tampa Bay/FRESHforce (Tampa, FL), Dignity Plates at the Franciscan Center (Baltimore, MD), Rise and Shine (Odenton, MD), Michigan Hospitality Foundation (Lansing, MI), House of Bah Foundation (Omaha, NE), Eva’s Village (Paterson, NJ), Black Veterans for Social Justice (Brooklyn, NY), Foodlink (Rochester, NY), JustDane (Madison, WI) and Riverview Gardens (Appleton, WI).

Community-based culinary arts training programs are invited to apply to the Jacques Pépin Foundation Grant Program for Community-Based Culinary Arts Training Programs throughout the year and are awarded twice: one in summer and one in winter. Applications for the Summer Grant Program open in February.